The Educational Program in Translational Sleep and Mental Health Research (abbreviated as SLEUTH; Sleep EdUcational research in Translational mental Health) constitute annual meetings that are designed to provide advanced training in basic and clinical sleep research for predoctoral and postdoctoral students. The objective of the SLEUTH Programs is to assure that interdisciplinary instruction is available for students in order to establish a coterie of outstanding young scientists who are able to generate new important information regarding the fundamental properties of the sleeping brain, especially in relation to mental health. To achieve this objective, the SLEUTH Programs will capitalize on the combined strengths of a distinguished faculty. Under the auspices of the SLEUTH Programs, the faculty, from the sleep field and related disciplines, will pool their resources and provide instruction in molecular, cellular, systems and behavioral aspects of basic and clinical sleep research as well as train young investigators in translational research. A priority will be placed on providing guidance in sleep research that advances the objectives of the NIMH Strategic Plan. In addition, the directives detailed in the 2008 Report of the National Advising Mental Health Council Workgroup on Research Training, Investing in the Future, will be incorporated into the selection of students and the activities of the SLEUTH Programs. Innovative programs that stress concepts and problem-solving in creative formats will, as in the past, be hallmarks of the SLEUTH Programs. In addition, the SLEUTH Programs will focus on new areas that have the potential for use by the students, such as functional genomics, non-linear mathematics and neuroinformatics. The SLEUTH Programs will also include special activities dealing with ethics and grantsmanship; a wide range of instruction will, in addition, encompass methodologies and data not only from the field of sleep but also from related disciplines. An emphasis will be placed on training in all areas of neuroscience, and at all stages of the life cycle, ranging from infancy to old age, with an emphasis in relating sleep to problems of mental health. We believe that the SLEUTH Programs are critically important insofar as they are the only continuing program in the nation (or world) specifically designed to provide instruction for predoctoral and postdoctoral students in basic, clinical and translational sleep and mental health research. A vast array of resources that will be available to the students; thus, the SLEUTH Programs will function as a University Without Walls; by providing multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary instruction for students including minorities and disadvantaged individuals. In accord with the directives of NIMH, an emphasis will also be placed on including individuals from diverse backgrounds, physician-scientists and international scholars.